TCAF NEWS!

We are looking for a ~30 hour/week Retail Assistant to engage customers with strong recommendations, beautify our amazing displays, and fulfill other duties at our comic book / apparel / gift store, Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop, located at 789 Yonge Street!

Candidates should have a strong understanding of the comics medium and industry: everything from micro-press and minicomics, to Koyama and Fantagraphics, Viz and Vertical, Image and Darkhorse. We work with everything under the big tent of comics: manga, bandes dessinées, superheroes, graphic novels, picture books! Special consideration will be given to candidates with a strong understanding of kids comics and kids books. Other retail experience is also highly valued, as Page & Panel carries a wide range of apparel, stationery, gift, and other goods. The ideal candidate has several years’ experience working in book stores and/or comic shops.

Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop exists to further TCAF’s overall mandate:

to promote the breadth and diversity of comics, and what is considered comics, as legitimate medium of literary and artistic worth. We seek to promote the creators of these works in their broad and diverse voices, for the betterment of the medium of comics and to reach as wide an audience as possible for them

Responsibilities would include:

Delighting customers and building repeat business

Merchandising planned and ad-hoc displays for multiple product lines

Using our inventory management system and Point of Sales system

Executing and overseeing in-store promotions and events

Working with the TCAF Managing staff ensure Page & Panel meets fiscal and other goals

E.H. Norman Speaker Series

Manga from Canada! Canadian Comics, Publishing and International Exchange

Seventeen Canadian comic artists will visit Japan to present their unique creative work to a Japanese audience. Canada has a diverse array of comic book writers and illustrators with a wide variety of styles and artistic approaches to creating comics, BD, and international manga. This event will showcase Canadian comics and comic artists, followed by a short on-stage presentation by Toronto Comic Arts Festival Artistic Director Christopher Butcher and Quebec BD Director Thomas-Louis Cote on the strong points of Canadian comic art and comic publishers. We will then have an on-stage discussion (in English with Japanese translation) between Canadian and Japanese comic creators. Throughout the evening, original artworks from The Toronto Comic Arts Festival will be on display along with works by Canadian Comic and BD artists!

Exhibitor Applications are now open for the 2019 Vancouver Comic Arts Festival (VanCAF). VanCAF 2019 takes place on Saturday May 18th and Sunday May 19th, 2019, at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre in Vancouver.

Exhibitor Applications are now open for the 2019 Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF). TCAF 2019 will feature a day of Professional Development Programming on Friday May 10th, with the main exhibition on Saturday May 11th and Sunday May 12th, 2019, at Toronto Reference Library in beautiful Toronto, Canada.

TheToronto Comic Arts Festival (Toronto, Canada) andEntreviñetas Festival (Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia), in alliance with the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, are proud to announce the launch of the Blind Dateproject (Cita a ciegas).

May 13, 2018 | The winners of the 14th annual Doug Wright Awards, recognizing the best work and most promising talent in Canadian comics, were announced Saturday evening at a ceremony in Toronto. One of this year’s winners is a multiple Doug Wright Award nominee, and all three took home awards for the first time.

Crawl Space, by Jesse Jacobs (a six-time Wright Award nominee) won the 2018 Doug Wright Best Book Award. Crawl Space, published by Koyama Press, is a surreal story of adolescence. The judges said of this year’s winner:

One part John Hughes and one part Terrence McKenna, Crawl Space transforms the common corners of a suburban adolescence into a cosmic philosophical landscape. It flies high with masterful visual storytelling, and a mind-bending drawing style all the while staying grounded in its gentle humor and pathos. It’s a book that’s hard not to love.

First-time nominee Jenn Woodall was the winner of the 2018 Doug Wright Spotlight Award (also known as “The Nipper”). The Nipper is presented to a Canadian cartoonist (or writer/artist team) deserving of wider recognition. Woodall was nominated on the merit of her books Magical Beatdown Vol. 2 and Worrywart, of which the judges said:

Worrywart was uniquely vulnerable and relatable, and we loved seeing the protagonist contend with anxiety as a tangible character that never leaves. Magical Beatdown deploys violence in a very satisfying way, and that, coupled with Jenn’s gorgeous illustrative style made this book a clear winner.

First-time nominee Sami Alwani’s book The Dead Father was awarded the 2018 Pigskin Peters Award, presented to the most experimental, unconventional or avant-garde comic of the year. In their comments about Alawani’s debut comic the judges said:

Alwani explores the pressures and obligations of our arbitrary circumstances and the anxiety that comes inherent in every opportunity. Alwani’s debut leaves us with great expectations for his future work, the irony of which is clear in his story of poor Baby Alwani, who seems both deserving and devastated by the expectations of his father and a clamoring, rabid throng of reporters.

This year’s inductee to the Giants of the North Canadian cartoonist hall of fame, which celebrates creators who have made a life-long contribution to the field, is Duncan Macpherson (1924–1993). Macpherson was inducted into the Giants hall of fame by Terry “Aislin” Mosher, and accepted om his behalf by his son, Ian Macpherson.

Born in Toronto, Macpherson served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. He studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Art and the Ontario College of Art, and his work appeared in the Montreal Standard, and, most famously, the Toronto Star. Mosher, referred to Macpherson as “the king of the third wave” of Canadian editorial cartoonists. He was awarded multiple National Newspaper Awards, his work has been displayed at the Ontario Art Gallery, and he was the first cartoonist to ever become a member of the Order of Canada. He died, in Beaverton, Ontario, in 1993.

A feature event of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival, the 14th annual Doug Wright Awards took place in the High Park Ballroom of the Toronto Marriott Bloor Yorkville Hotel. They were hosted by Dustin Harbin, and featured live drawing by R. Sikoryak.

Finalists for this year’s awards were chosen from nearly 100 works published during the 2017 calendar year. The jury for the 14th annual Doug Wright Awards included: Bo Doodley, a Toronto-based artist; Jim Munroe, a writer, producer, and creator of games, comics, movies and novels, living in Toronto; Marc Nui, a Windsor, Ontario–based sequential artist and speculative designer; and Pamela Marie Pierce, a multi-disciplinary visual artist and illustrator whose work has appeared in Heavy Metal, based in Saint John, New Brunswick. The Pigskin Peters Award was chosen by the nominating committee, which this year consisted of Adrian Doran, Alex Hoffman, Betty Liang, and Conan Tobias.

NBM Graphic Novels is enthusiastically once again attending The Toronto Comics Art Festival, the massive, FREE two-day exhibition held at the Toronto Reference Library on Saturday, May 12 and Sunday, May 13 and can be found at Table #133.

Publisher Terry Nantier will be on hand for the company and he’ll be joined by David B, one of France’s finest cartoonists and a co-founder of the legendary L’Association collective, who is attending TCAF as a Featured Guest.

David B is attending TCAF in support of his new graphic novel from NBM, Hasib & the Queen of Serpents, which will debut at the show and he will be both signing at the NBM Booth and appearing on several panels.

Heir to the wise Daniel, Hâsib is a young woodcutter promised to a great future. When his greedy companions abandon him in the middle of the forest, he meets the Queen of the serpents. She then tells her story, a fabulous adventure filled with gods and demons, princes and prophets. We find Prince Janshah madly in love with Shamsa, the bird woman of King Solomon. Love and perjury, epic battles and giant spiders ensue… From Kabul to Cairo, journeys intertwine with intrigues and spiritual quests while the fabulous nights follow one another. An enchanting and intricately designed interpretation of the story of Hâsib Karîm ad-Dîm, through which fragment of the giant tale David B. opens us the gates of the Thousand and One Nights. For mature readers.

Also premiering at TCAF is Niki de Saint Phalle: The Garden of Secrets from creators Dominique Osuch and Sandrine Martin.

Niki de Saint Phalle knew art could save the world because art saved her… from madness, from violence. Even from herself. A comics biography of the famous and controversial contemporary pop-style artist.

Also appearing at TCAF will be Julian Voloj (Ghetto Brother) who will be be premiering his comic biography, The Joe Shuster Story, from our sister company, Papercutz. In addition, he’ll be signing at the NBM booth and will be participating on a panel. (Details here!)

David B – Panels and Signing Schedule

Saturday

11:00 AM:BD Today – Contemporary French ComicsHigh Park Ballroom 2/3 (Marriott)
The best-selling French comics sell 5x better than English comics in North America. That’s millions and millions of copies! Sacré Bleu! Join some of the most critically acclaimed voices in French comics to talk about what makes the French comics scene so magical, and what exciting books and artists we should keep our eyes out for. Featuring Yvan Alagbé, David B, Brigitte Findakly, Julie Rocheleau, and Lewis Trondheim. Moderated by Bart Beatty.

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM:Signing – NBM Table (#133)

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM:Signing – NBM Table (#133)

Sunday

12:00 PM: Personal Boundaries: Changing Shape of MemoirBeeton Auditorium (1st Floor, Library)What is the power of personal narratives when tweets, instagram photos, and snapchats are increasingly changing the norms of sharing personal information? Does the longer narrative of memoir become more relevant,a break from the bombardment of social media? Or will it soon be dismissed by readers who want more immediacy from a glowing screen? Featuring memoirist David B, Georgia Webber, Marguerite Dabaie, and Karl Steven. Moderated by Irene Velentzas.

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM:Signing – NBM Table (#133)

3:00 PM: Literally Illustrated ClassicsBeeton Auditorium (1st Floor, Library)
What are the specific challenges artists face when adapting a beloved work into a graphic novel? Emily Carrol, David B, Meaghan Carter and Ron Wimberly discuss how to honour the original while bringing something new to it, and updating and reworking problematic aspects of older work to bringit up to the standard of a contemporary audience. Moderated by Megan Kearney.

Coming to TCAF this weekend? You’re in for a treat, because we have some AMAZING exclusive items and giveaways for you! All items will be available in Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop, and the Inio Asano items will also be available at the second floor Beguiling Table.

As part of Hockey Noir (tickets on sale now), the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Continuum Music, and ECM+ were donated authentic signed Toronto Maple Leafs jerseys signed by #16 Mitch Marner and #34 Auston Matthews! These signed jerseys — each from their record-setting rookie seasons — also come with a certificate of authenticity, a signed & framed photo, and a Maple Leafs drawstring knapsack!

Raffle tickets will be sold at the TCAF INFO Desk on the first floor of the Toronto Reference Library during Saturday May 12 (9am to 5pm) and Sunday May 13 (10am to 5pm). The draw will take place Monday May 14th, and winners will be contacted by phone.

The tickets will be sold at 1 ticket for $5 or 3 tickets for $10 and all proceeds will go directly to support the production of Hockey Noir.

Scott Pilgrim, Captain Canuck, Nelvana, and Kagagi are just a few of the thrilling Canadian comic book heroes you can explore at the Alter Ego exhibition. Check out some of Canada’s best biographical and realist comic creators, and learn about the talented Canadians behind many popular superheroes, like pioneering Superman artist Joe Shuster.

An exhibit created by Library and Archives Canada and presented by the Toronto Public Library.

SPRING: The Elephant in the Room Exhibition@ Toronto Reference Library, 3rd FloorRunning May 12 to May 26.

Presented with the support of The Goethe Institut Toronto and Toronto Reference Library

Romy Blümel

In Spring 2016, eight German cartoonists from the all-woman collective SPRING travelled to Nitryagram in southern India to meet their cartooning colleagues and to create a joint issue of their comics anthology magazine. That work, SPRING: The Elephant in the Room, contains the stories of 16 women reflecting on their lives and how they live., the roles women take on and the decisions they make. It contains shorter and longer stories, some more detailed, some more abstract, but ultimately it is the similarties rather than the differences that abound in this work.

For the exhibition at TCAF, whole stories and short excerpts of the Spring #13 will be displayed, and one of the participating artists, Stephanie Wunderlich, will be in attendence for both days of TCAF, seated adjacent to the exhibit. Copies of SPRING magazine will be made available for sale Saturday and Sunday during TCAF at Stephanie’s table, and afterwards at Page & Panel: The TCAF Shop.

As you may know, this year TCAF is presenting Zineland Terrace, our first ever zine-focused show held in the Cumberland Terrace Mall. This space will not only host exhibitors (full list of whom you can find here: Link), but also a stream of TCAF programming! The following panels will be held a the Cumberland Terrace First Floor programming space:

Keen attendees may notice that these programs were originally slate to happen in the High Park 1 Ballroom at the Marriott Hotel. Luckily this new location at the Cumberland lets us have even more space for programs, so even more people can attend! All programs scheduled to take place at the High Park 2/3 Ballroom will still be there, just in the bigger and grander complete High Park Ballroom!

For more information on these and all of our TCAF programs, don’t forget to check out the TCAF Guidebook:

The 2018 Toronto Comic Arts Festival is rapidly approaching, and while we’ve got our great interactive events listing up and running, sometimes you just want to know what’s happening in one, quick list! In that spirit, here’s a listing of all of the TCAF 2018 off-site and special events, with facebook and website links when available. This is complete as of May 6th, 2018, but we will update if new info comes in.

TCAF is pleased to present Word Balloon Academy, a full day of creator-focused programming on Friday, May 11th at the Marriott Bloor Yorkville, located at 90 Bloor Street East (Bloor/Yonge Subway).

Word Balloon Academy is a full day of presentations and workshops especially for comic creators and industry members, and includes programming spanning creative demonstrations, business development topics and professional concerns. These programs require registration, but are completely free to attend.

TORONTO, APRIL 25 – With the 2018 Festival just over 2 weeks away, The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is proud to announce additional Featured Guests, organizations, and the complete range of posters for this year’s Festival. These announcements are in addition to the wonderful list of Featured guests already announced for TCAF 2018, taking place May 12 & 13 (with professional programming on May 11), at Toronto Reference Library, The Marriott Bloor Yorkville, and Cumberland Terrace.

April 18, 2018 | Nominees for the 14th annual Doug Wright Awards, recognizing the best work and most promising talent in Canadian comics in three categories, were announced this morning.

Duncan Macpherson (1924–1993), editorial cartoonist at the MontrealStandard, Toronto Star and Maclean’s magazine, is this year’s Giants of the North inductee. He will be inducted into the Canadian cartoonist hall of fame on the evening of the awards ceremony.

Nominees for the 2018 Doug Wright Best Book Award, presented for the best graphic novel book published in Canada (in English), are:

Duncan Macpherson, this year’s Giants of the North inductee, was born in Toronto in 1924, and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. He studied at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and the Ontario College of Art, and began his career at the Montreal Standard in 1948. Over the next five decades, Macpherson’s cartoons became a fixture of the political scene in English Canada and his wickedly wrought black-and-white work helped define the country’s political conversation in such publications as the Toronto Star and Maclean’s.

Terry “Aislin” Mosher, once referred to Macpherson as “the king of the third wave” of Canadian editorial cartoonists while a journalist colleague described his work as a combination of “Mary Poppins, Mark Twain and Attila the Hun.” Though he took on politicians of stripes and affiliations, his caustic portraits of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker helped make him famous, with Pierre Berton citing them as being “the beginning of the country’s disillusionment with the Diefenbaker government.”

MacPherson received six National Newspaper Awards, the Royal Academy Medal, was a Member of the Order of Canada, and his work was exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario. He died, in Beaverton, Ontario, in 1993.

Finalists for this year’s awards were chosen from nearly 100 works published during the 2017 calendar year. The nominating committee consisted of Adrian Doran, Alexander Hoffman, Betty Liang, and Conan Tobias.

The jury for the 14th annual Doug Wright Awards includes: Bo Doodley, a Toronto-based artist; Jim Munroe, a writer, producer, and creator of games, comics, movies, and novels, living in Toronto; Marc Ngui, a Windsor, Ontario–based sequential artist and speculative designer; and Pamela Marie Pierce, Pamela Marie Pierce, a multi-disciplinary visual artist and illustrator based in Saint John, New Brunswick, whose work has appeared in Heavy Metal and elsewhere..

The Doug Wright Awards will be announced at a ceremony on the evening of May 12, 2018, hosted by cartoonist Dustin Harbin. The awards will be a featured event at the 2018 Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), which takes place in and around the Toronto Reference Library, May 12 and 13.

Conundrum Press to Debut Six New Titles at Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)

On May 12th and 13th, Conundrum Press will exhibit at Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) with six debut titles by Canadian artists, including:

Norths: Two Suitcases and a Stroller Around the Circumpolar World by Alison McCreesh

The Curse of Charley Butters by Zach Worton

Feast of Fields by Sean Karemaker

100 Days in Uranium City by Ariane Dénommé

On Vinyl by Lorenz Peter

Weegee: Serial Photographer, will also debut at TCAF. The creators, Max de Radiguès and Wauter Mannaert (Belgium) are featured guests at this year’s festival.

Kris Bertin and Alex Forbes (Halifax) will sign their celebrated graphic novel The Case of the Missing Men, and Howard Chackowicz (Montreal) and Andy Brown (Wolfville) will be signing BDQ: Essays and Interviews on Quebec Comics.

Toronto – March 19, 2018. The Toronto Comic Arts Festival and the Ottawa Geek Market have teamed up with researchers from Carleton University, Ryerson University, and the University of Calgary to launch a multi-year research partnership. Over the project’s three years, researchers will study the role that North America’s comic conventions, comic art festivals and fandom events play in the creative economy and the cultural life of cities.

We are proud to announce Zineland Terrace, the first ever TCAF Zine Fair!

Every year, some of the world’s most exciting comic artists gather for the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. This year, we are delighted to expand the scope of the festival’s exhibitor programming to include a brand new, truly unique space for zine creators, readers, and well, everyone!

TCAF’s Zineland Terrace will happen at The Cumberland Terrace (2 Bloor St W) on May 12-13, 2018, from 11am to 5pm each day. The event will run concurrently with the main festival floor directly across the street at the Toronto Reference Library, but will focus on creators using self publishing, DIY, and zine culture to forge new and critical narratives and communities.

TORONTO, CANADA– Trailblazing kids graphic novel publisher Toon Books is turning 10 this year, and they’re celebrating at TCAF! The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is proud to announce that it will join with Toon Books, their staff, and creators, in celebrating their 10th anniversary through programming, appearances, debut books, and more!

Toon Books will exhibit in TCAF’s new kids programming and activity area, in The Marriott Bloor Yorkville’s Forest Hill Ballroom, and will be represented at TCAF by company founder and legendary comics editor Françoise Mouly. Mouly will also act as the Keynote speaker for TCAF Librarian & Educator Dayon Friday May 11th, with registration now open. Joining Mouly in the celebration will be an amazing assortment of top comics creators (for Kids and Adults), including Jaime Hernandez, Liniers, Kevin McCloskey, Sergio Garcia Sanchez, and Frank Viva!

TORONTO, CANADA – The Toronto Comic Arts Festival’s commitment to showcasing the greatest comic creators from Canada and around the world continues with the announcement of eleven international guests for the 2018 Festival. Among their ranks are prize winners from all over the world, including Eisner Awards, Angouleme Selections, and one creator is even an honest-to-goodness Knight! These comics luminaries from Belgium, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Spain, and the U.K. will be welcome guests of TCAF 2018, joining the more than 400 already announced creators who will participate in the Festival. All of these creators will be accessible to Festival attendees on Saturday and Sunday of the Festival, through multiple programming and signing/dédicace opportunities, (schedules to be announced).

Librarians! Teachers! Academics! Registration for TCAF Librarian and Educator Day is now open, and once again, it’s FREE! Sponsored by The Beguiling, UDON Entertainment and Manga Classics, and numerous participating publishers, TCAF Librarian & Educator Day is a FREE, full-day of programming aimed at teachers, teacher-librarians, librarians, and library workers and collection managers who want to know more about incorporating comics and graphic novels into their collections. Information-rich presentations and lectures, panel discussions, and workshops impart valuable information about building collections, improving circulation, targeting important demographics, and integrating comics into classroom use.

International Comic-Salon Erlangen, Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF), the Canadian Embassy in Berlin, and Canada FBM2020 are partnering together to bring a small delegation of Canadian graphic novel publishers to Germany’s largest and most important comics industry event, May 31st to June 3rd, 2018.